WATERVILLE — City Solicitor Bill Lee is scheduled to talk to the Planning Board on Monday about legal issues involving placing restrictions on marijuana-related operations.

The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the City Council chamber at The Center downtown.

The council on Feb. 16 voted 6-0 to adopt a 180-day moratorium on considering applications or permits for medical marijuana-related businesses in the city to give officials time to determine where they should be and what restrictions should apply.

Councilors asked the Planning Board to recommend appropriate places for such facilities and to say what restrictions should be placed on them. Then the council would make the final decision.

The Planning Board had been looking at a draft ordinance governing marijuana-related operations including dispensaries, cultivation operations, collectives and storage places. Cultivation of medical marijuana for personal use is exempted.

The proposed ordinance says marijuana-related facilities in residential zones are subject to the home occupations section of the city’s zoning ordinance.

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The ordinance does not distinguish between selling marijuana and selling shoes. The city’s home-occupation rules, however, allow businesses to be in residential areas but does not allow them to sell anything.

The draft marijuana ordinance says marijuana-related facilities shall be at least 500 feet from other marijuana-related facilities and 500 feet from the nearest property line of any public, private or parochial school, private library, playground or child care facility as measured in a straight line, without regard to intervening structures or objects. They may not be located between Union and Sherwin streets and between Elm Street and the Kennebec River, according to the proposal; they also may not be co-located with other businesses. Odors may not have a significant detrimental effect on the use and peaceful enjoyment of abutting property, according to the proposal.

Mayor Nick Isgro has said he plans to attend Monday’s meeting to ask questions and discuss the marijuana issue.

Meanwhile, on March 21, the Planning Board voted 5-1 to postpone making a recommendation to the City Council on locations and restrictions and asked Planning Board Chairman Nick Champagne and Beverage to organize a workshop on the topic and have Lee, the city solicitor, attend.

In other matters Monday, the board will consider a site plan for a project that involves building apartments in a barn at the rear of the property at 319 Main St. owned by Bill Mitchell.

The City Council voted April 19 to approve a zone change for the property to allow apartments to be constructed in the barn, which is attached to a house on the property that houses offices.

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The board on Monday also will consider an informal pre-application review for a proposed 4,321-square-foot addition to Grossman Hall, a residence hall, on the Colby College campus on Mayflower Hill. The plan, which calls for renovating the hall to house the Career Center, will be considered under the city’s subdivision and site plan review ordinance. The Career Center now operates in the Eustis building, the college’s main administration building. Grossman Hall was built in 1951.

Work on Grossman Hall is scheduled to start in the summer and would be completed by the fall.

In a separate matter, the board will consider an informal pre-application review for upgrades to the Purnell Wrigley ballfield on Mathews Avenue. As part of the proposal, the field would be made handicapped-accessible, turf would be installed and new dugouts and a bathroom building built.

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17


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